The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today announced that Singapore will host the first Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2010. The result was unveiled by the IOC President, Jacques Rogge, at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. Singapore beat Moscow in the final by 53 votes to 44.

The 105 IOC members entitled to vote(1) had cast their votes by post over the last few weeks. The sealed envelope with the name of the winning city was delivered to the IOC President during the announcement ceremony by the independent and certified notary who oversaw the process to guarantee confidentiality.

“This is a key moment for the Olympic Movement”, said Rogge to the journalists present in Lausanne. “Singapore has put together a very exciting project. Hosting the Youth Olympic Games for the first time is a great responsibility, and I have every confidence in the team in Singapore. I have no doubt that their professionalism and enthusiasm will be instrumental in the staging of successful Youth Olympic Games in 2010”, he continued.

“The Youth Olympic Games are the flagship of the IOC’s determination to reach out to young people. These Games will not only be about competition. They will also be the platform through which youngsters will learn about the Olympic values and the benefits of sport, and will share their experiences with other communities around the globe. We are looking forward to joining in the celebration in Singapore in 2010”, Rogge added.

The IOC President thanked Moscow for its excellent efforts and the quality of its candidature. He also hoped that today’s disappointment would not discourage it from bidding again.

Rogge also paid tribute to the other seven Candidate Cities which took part in a candidature process that started in August 2007: Athens (Greece), Bangkok (Thailand), Debrecen (Hungary), Guatemala City (Guatemala), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Moscow (Russian Federation), Poznan (Poland), Singapore (Singapore) and Turin (Italy).

(1) Out of the 110 current IOC members, 105 were entitled to vote. In addition to the IOC President, the members from the countries of the finalist Cities did not vote - V. Smirnov, S. Tarpischev and A. Popov (Russian Federation) and S.M. Ng (Singapore).


About the Youth Olympic Games
The Youth Olympic Games aim to bring together talented athletes – age group 14 to 18 - from around the world to participate in high-level competitions, and will also run, alongside the sports element of the event, educational programmes on the Olympic values, the benefits of sport for a healthy lifestyle, the social values sport can deliver, and the dangers of doping and of training to excess and/or of inactivity.

The first Summer Youth Olympic Games in Singapore will bring together approximately 3,200 athletes and 800 officials The sports programme will encompass all the sports on the programme of the 2012 Summer Games, but with a limited number of disciplines and events.

(Source: IOC)